Hammad Al-Hammad, Executive Chairman of Saudi based Jowan Future Design & Print talks about pandemic and his plan for the future.
Jowan Future Design & Print is a one shop for printing and packaging services in Saudi Arabia. Jowan was established in 2008, and in span of ten years the company established itself as one of the leading printing companies in KSA, offering full design services as well as organizing events and exhibitions.
The company is equipped with conventional as well as digital printing equipment, including B1 and B2 Heidelberg presses, Ricoh C7100X and Ricoh C9210 digital printing presses and a wide range of prepress and finishing equipment for printing and packaging operations. The company also boasts a professional design department with a team of creative, skilled and enthusiastic designers.
Jowan offers fully integrated printing services to companies. Company’s products include books, magazines, catalogs, cards, folders as well as banners, posters, billboards exhibition stands and displays and much more. To support it customers Jowan also organizes and manages a variety of trade events including exhibitions, conferences, seminars, and workshops, providing lighted stage services, lighting, photography, videography, welcome boards, stands and displays plus marketing collaterals and whatever is required for organizing a successful event. The company also had its fair share of challenges dealing with Covid-19.
“The health and safety of our employees is our top priority, in addition to maintaining a stable workflow to serve our valued customers. We now have a business plan in place that is closely supervised by the director responsible for crisis and risk management to ensure that all appropriate measures are taken in line with the World Health Organization protocols, the Saudi government, and the health authorities. The situation is also monitored on regular basis so that we can work and respond quickly to future developments regarding the current epidemic. We have increased working shifts so that the number of employees does not exceed 40% in each shift. We replaced in-person meetings with videoconferencing. We distributed protective and personal safety products to each and every employee including masks, gloves and hand sanitizer. Any employee showing slightest influenza symptoms is given a two-week leave and then undergoes the required tests before returning to work again. We have disinfected all the offices and working spaces. We are observing social distancing and hygiene protocols, while at the same time minimizing contacts”. Comments Hamad Al-Hammad, CEO of Jowan Future Design & Print and adds: “In printing industry personal communication and contact between the owners of printing houses and clients are very essential. However, due to Covid many exhibitions, conferences other events have been cancelled. All these negative developments had a huge impact on our clients and subsequently on our business. The volume of orders has been dropped significantly. Our commercial printing activity had declined considerably while demand for packaging also decreased due to lack of commercial activities of corporations and companies which make up most of our clients.”
Mr. Al Hammad also believes the automation is vital to be able to ride the storm and survive the pandemic. He says the companies who had already invested in automated workflow have a much better chance to stay afloat but smaller printing companies that rely heavily on manual labor will face lots of challenges.
He also believes media landscape in KSA has changed dramatically. “The pandemic consolidated the relationship between Saudi media industry and Saudi people. Saudi media is now a very important tool to fight the Corona virus. In addition, the Saudi Ministry of Health used all the media at its disposal to inform public, offering them lifesaving guidelines so they can face the pandemic. The media also contributed greatly to educate the community by providing awareness and I believe the media will continue to play its vital role to support government agencies fight Coronavirus.” Explains Mr. Al Hammad who is optimistic about the future of his company and his employees. “During the pandemic despite sharp decrease in revenues we did not downsize and we kept all our employees. However, we introduced other solutions including restructuring our working hours. Once this crisis is subsided, God willing, we are planning to invest in digital inkjet presses. This was our plan before Corona crisis. We had to suspend it and hopefully we will finalize it soon.” Concludes Mr. Al Hammad.
